Alpha Gamma Push Their Leaders to be Better by Changing Vocabulary

As a company that was built on a solid leadership foundation, outsourced sales, and marketing experts, Alpha Gamma believes that mastering the art of leadership is imperative for business success.

Language is a hugely influential tool that has a determined impact on the culture and productivity of an organisation. Observing the chosen words during day-to-day business interactions will give tremendous insight into the culture and running of a business. Since those around them influence people, language used can move between stimulating intellectual thought to provoke emotions and feelings within a person. Hence why Alpha Gamma believe when it comes to leadership, the words and language used, should be considered because of the impact vocabulary has on the way people think, perceive things and innovate.

The impact of vocabulary on people has lead Alpha Gamma to create a list of words and phrases that should be avoided by those in leadership roles. The firm stress that this list is especially important to those in leadership roles, but that everyone should try to think more about the words and phrases they use and how they have an impact on their audience.

Avoid using ‘There is nothing I can do’ because it insinuates a lack of ideas. Leaders are solution-orientated individuals, so should never reveal if they are struggling to think of solutions. Try instead ‘If I could wave a magic wand…’

Two dangerous words for a leader to use are ‘always’ and ‘never.’ People will remember and hold leaders accountable for things that they have previously said. Try instead ‘usually’ or ‘sometimes.’

Words such as ‘no, because…’ demonstrates negativity and will stall innovation because, in the end, people will stop giving ideas if all they hear back is ‘no.’ Phrases like ‘Yes, we could do that if…’ shows a leader is open to new ideas but allows them to set conditions.

Leaders should not sound like they are speaking down to their audience, so phrases like ‘Does that make sense?’ are a no-no. Try instead ‘Any questions?’ because it is an open approach to check how well the audience has understood.

Alpha Gamma has recently been refocusing their entrepreneurs and identifying areas of their vocabulary that can be modified to help make them better leaders. The firm has seen the impacts that even small tweaks in language are having on the cohesiveness and productiveness of their teams and is now encouraging other businesses to do the same.

“Here at Alpha Gamma, we now consider the vocabulary and language that we use when leading teams and impacting others,” said a spokesperson for Alpha Gamma. “I don’t think we really know the influence that our choice of language has on those around us until we really take a look at it” added the spokesperson.